TSRA-196

Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia, Zoey Becker, or Will Maddox and it will be featured here at the end of each week. Legend Biotech CEO departs without successor in place Legend Biotech CEO Ying Huang , Ph.D., has left the company suddenly, without a predecessor in place. Huang was elevated from CFO to CEO in 2020 after a Chinese customs investigation was opened on founding CEO Fangliang Zhang , Ph.D. Legend’s board appointed Carvykti President Alan Bash to fill Huang’s shoes until a permanent successor can be named. Bash joined the company in 2024 and has been managing the Johnson & Johnson-partnered multiple myeloma CAR-T therapy, which is the lead drug in Legend’s portfolio. Legend’s SEC filing said that Huang’s resignation “was not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices or the Company’s financial statements or internal controls over financial reporting.” Huang will remain as an advisor through August to support the transition. Story Sarepta snags Severino as new CEO Sarepta Therapeutics Michael Severino , M.D., is the successor to Sarepta Therapeutics CEO Doug Ingram, effective this past Tuesday, July 28th. Severino hails most immediately from Flagship Pioneering’s Tessera Therapeutics, where he served as CEO for the past four years. At Tessera, Severino helped to advance its first in vivo gene-editing therapy, TSRA-196, now being co-developed and commercialized with Regeneron, into the clinic. Prior to Tessera, he served as vice chairman and president at North Chicago-based AbbVie. Here he helped steer R&D efforts for numerous drugs including Rinvoq, Skyrizi, and Venclexta. Under his leadership, AbbVie built leading franchises in hematologic oncology, immunology, and neuroscience. “It is a privilege to join Sarepta, the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, and a company driven by an extraordinary purpose: bringing innovative therapies, hope and possibility to patients and families facing serious and life-threatening diseases,” Severino said. He also held leadership roles at both Merck and Amgen, where he logged a total of more than 15 years, before his tenure at AbbVie. Story . Nasus sniffs out new CEO in former Teva exec Israel-based Nasus Pharma is swapping out its CEO Dan Teleman with an experienced exec who previously worked in leadership roles at another major Israeli pharma. Succeeding Teleman, Brendan O’Grady joins Nasus as CEO following a stint as the chief executive at Assertio Holdings, which was bought out by Zydus Pharma earlier this year. Before that, O’Grady spent 21 years at Teva Pharmaceuticals in roles of increasing responsibility, culminating as president and CEO of Teva’s U.S. business. At Nasus, the executive is expected to bring “strategic vision, extensive experience in payors and reimbursement, and proven commercial leadership,” board chair Udi Gilboa explained. O’Grady will be tasked with leading Nasus’ next phase of growth and stirring up the maximum commercial potential of its Nasax intranasal technology platform and lead candidate NS002, an epinephrine treatment for type 1 allergic reactions. The asset could address a “significant unmet need” and make for a “growing $2 billion market opportunity,” O’Grady commented. Release > Amgen vet Debra Jeske Zack , M.D., Ph.D., is bringing her 25 years of experience in drug development for immune-mediated diseases to Spero Therapeutics as its new chief medical officer. Release > 37 years after joining Ionis Pharmaceuticals as a founding scientist, chief scientific officer Frank Bennett , Ph.D., is set to hang up the gloves in February 2027, with research head Eric Swayze , Ph.D., taking on his responsibilities. Release > Spruce Biosciences is branching out with the appointment of experienced executive Adrian Quartel , M.D., as its new chief medical officer. Release > In vivo CAR T-cell company Liberate Bio appointed BMS and Regeneron alum Steven Bernstein , M.D., as new CMO to help bring their leading in vivo CAR-T program to the clinic. Release . > Machine learning and AI-focused Recursion welcomed 15-year Microsoft veteran Hoifung Poon , Ph.D., as first Chief AI Officer. Linkedin . > Boston-based psychedelic therapeutics company Rose Hill tapped former Takeda and Deciphera regulatory strategy expert Jama Pitman as new CEO to advance their psilocybin drug pipeline. Release . > Ashlins Pharmaceuticals has named Andres Gutierrez , Ph.D., as its new chief medical officer. He brings more than two decades of experience in oncology, including senior roles at Ayala Pharmaceuticals, Oncolytics Biotech, Bristol Myers Squibb and more. LinkedIn > Terence Rooney , M.D., has been appointed chief medical officer of Kymera Therapeutics, a clinical-stage immunology biotech. He succeeds Jared Gollob , M.D., who will retire after eight years and remain as an advisor through the end of the year. Release > Secretome Therapeutics has named Teji Singh , M.D., as chief medical officer and transitioned Marshelle Smith , M.D., to the role of chief development officer. Singh most recently led clinical development at Sarepta Therapeutics. Release > Linda Shapiro Manning , M.D., Ph.D., has been named the new chief medical officer of Ambrosia Biosciences. She brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in obesity and cardiometabolic disease at Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals. Release